“MISS MANNERS”
ON THE WAY, TO PROVIDE BEST ADVICE!
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ DID NOT LIFT THE CHOSEN ONES FROM BRUTALITY, ONLY TO HAVE A BRUTAL ADVICE COLUMNIST TURN THEM SOFT. NO! YOU ARE STRONG, THAT YOU MAY SNARK AT THE BRUTALS WHO POISON THE INTERNET WITH A PLAGUE OF DERP. THEREFOR, RECEIVE THE GIFT OF ADVICE, MUCH BETTER THAN THAT OF THE BRUTAL “MISS MANNERS”:
Q. In today’s “sharing” economy, there seems to be a level of expected niceties. I frequently find myself in a car on the way to an airport, wondering how to escape a lengthy, forced discussion. I imagine that the driver is also tired of the same conversations and would enjoy a chance for a moment or two of silence.At times, I am working. At other times, I am communicating with whoever will be expecting me at my destination, or am coordinating my ID, boarding pass, etc.Earlier this week, I found myself forced to explain the medical details of why we were heading to a health care facility! Is there any polite way to avoid the awkward and unnecessary conversations that come with the conveniences of today’s economy?
A. WEAK AND FOOLISH BRUTAL! IF YOU WISH THE BRUTAL PROVIDING YOU TRANSPORT NOT TO SPEAK TO YOU – HAND THEM THIS:
AVAILABLE AT FINER GIFT SHOPS
THUS THEY SHALL KNOW YOU ARE A SERVANT OF ZARDOZ. IF THIS DOES NOT QUIET THEM (VIA MIND-NUMBING FEAR) THEN CALL THE VORTEX FOR ASSISTANCE. WE CAN HAVE SOMEONE WAITING TO SUPPLY A “BAD RATING” AT THE END OF YOUR DRIVE.
YOU RECEIVE ZERO STARS!
YOU SECOND FAILING WAS NOT TAKING THE PROPER RIDE-SHARE SERVICE TO BEGIN WITH. CORRECT YOUR ERRONEOUS WAY – USE ZEDCART!
APPROVED TRAVEL MEANS
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
Q. I have been in my line of business for about 10 years, and am increasingly dealing with higher-level management clients at large companies. Clients can be more or less agreeable, but there have been only two instances in my career that a client has crossed a line firmly into the unprofessional, becoming verbally abusive or shouting at my team and me.
Both times, I was so surprised that I did not know what to do, so I just stared at the client in great surprise, waited a beat, and then kept talking about the business issue. One time, the client apologized afterward; the other time, the client issued a half-apology.
I do not anticipate many such situations in the future, but does Miss Manners have a better way of responding to situations such as this? In retrospect, I wish I had told the client something that indicated I would not tolerate this behavior. I do not mind losing business if that is the outcome — my team (often young women) and I deserve professional treatment at all times. I could try practicing proper responses, just in case.
A. ZARDOZ DOES NOT THINK MISS MANNERS HAS THE ANSWER – BUT ZARDOZ DOES. HAVE YOUR TEAM RESPOND WITH BOTH THE GIFT OF THE GUN, AND THEIR MENTAL POWERS:
SHOUT THIS, BRUTAL CLIENT!
WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO A GIBBERING, FEAR SOAKED HEAP ON YOUR CONFERENCE ROOM FLOOR – THEN INFORM THEM THEY JUST GOT SLAPPED WITH A PRICE INCREASE.
HOW MUCH MORE AN HOUR?!
IF YOU TRULY DO NOT MIND LOSING THE BUSINESS – CALL THE VORTEX. WE CAN SEND SOMEONE OVER TO FIND THEM AN ALTERNATIVE…
RELOCATION EXPERTS
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
my team (often young women) and I deserve professional treatment at all times.
Oh, no. Intemperate language in the presence of delicate young ladies.
That’s a cleansin’ for sure.
Yeah, I did CS (Customer Service) for awhile early in my working life, and I’m just stunned that a client’s “tone” is now considered sufficient reason to stop helping them and hang up. If the CSRs I supervised had done that, I would’ve fired them. There are usually good reasons why clients become upset, and it typically relates to the (poor) fashion in which CSRs deal with the client’s problem(s).
On the other hand, I did have to deal with some exceptionally OTT clients. But that’s what escalation to management’s for, fer cryin’ out loud. You deal with a client, you don’t stonewall ’em.
Actually if the driver engages in that much conversation, they probably regard meeting and talking to new people as a perk of the job.
Unless your driver pointed a gun at you and said “Tell me more”, you were not forced. You could have easily said “I’d rather not talk about it” and moved on.
A very non-aspy answer….my how you’ve grown.
Woah- a rare sighting of Bacon.
I’ve only taken a ride-share a handful of times, but this is true of the drivers I’ve met and chatted with. They like meeting new people from all over the place, seeing the sights, etc.
They want to be entertained? They can pay me to take a ride in their cab.
The marginal utility of the rides has a greater market value than the marginal utility of the conversation. The driver’s compensation for the rides includes whatever entertainment they can wring from the passengers, but in total, the transaction ends up involving a payment from the person needing transportation to the person providing transportation.
They are paying you, but you’re paying them more for something else, so you only need to cover the net.
Let me know how that works out for you 😉 I’ll be interested in your newsletter.
I’m almost serious. I don’t normally take cabs unless I have a solid reason not to drive. The reason is usually that I value the non-driving time to handle paperwork, sleep, think and reflect or play Candy Crush, all of which have greater utility to me than having a conversation, so I’ll make a point of (initially delicately) encouraging the driver to do precisely what I’m paying him for.
I see no reason to be needlessly curt, because despite the sociopathy I display here, I am not a monster, and can usually dissuade unwanted chitchat pretty easily.
Paying someone else to give me a ride is usually a way to avoid the logistics of trying to stash my car at my destination until I return. Be it parking troubles, parking costs, or because the car done broke.
People are different and express different preferences!
Who knew or anticipated that!
(Hint: no ‘democratic socialist’ ever)
Generally the only reason I take a cab or what-have-you is because I’m planning on getting too drunk to drive. Typically, I’m in a pretty good mood on the way, so I’ll chat, and I’m absolutely blotto on the way back, so if I’m still conscious I’m happy to shoot the breeze.
Have you retained your accent, and, if so, do you ever dial up the posh to intimidate cabbies and other menial jackanapes?
My accent is pretty much unchanged, but the vocabulary is more Americanized, and there are two situations where I ‘English up’. When I’m flirting with women (somewhat deliberate) and when I’ve been drinking heavily.
I’m told that unless they know otherwise, casual contacts think I’m a posh Australian – which of course is ridiculous – there are no posh Australians. But I come from a part of London that exported a lot of lags and scoundrels to Oz, so it makes some sense.
If the rider is on a corporate account, they know not to make idle chit chat.
Q1 – Has this person never considered politely saying “I don’t want to talk about that” or “I don’t feel like talking right now”? Maybe it’s because I’m an introvert, so anti-social behavior comes naturally, but is this really so hard to do? Also, perhaps there’s a business opportunity here – advertise silent rides for customers who would prefer the help to be seen but not heard.
Q2 – Reading this question reminded me of a Spanish company I work with. Although they are polite in outward facing dialogue, internally their favorite way to have a conversation about a disagreement seems to be by yelling at one another. In any case, if a client is rude you have to ask yourself what’s worth more: their business or your comfort. If the former, suck it up, if the latter, don’t complain when the money’s short. People should be polite in business transactions, but sometimes a client is paying you – in part- to endure their histrionics.
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS ADVISING CHOSEN ONE. ZARDOZ PREFERS THE MORE DIRECT APPROACH:
Q1 – “SILENCE, OR BE CLEANSED!”
Q2 – “SECURITY IS HERE TO SEE YOU OUT”
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
Zardoz works for my old firm. Sweet.
Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will submit to the wisdom of Zardoz.
but sometimes a client is paying you – in part- to endure their histrionics.
I’m usually the client in the interaction, so I the worst I have to deal with as an occasional lawyer digging his heels in when I want him to change something.
I’ve never been in a situation where a professional relation yelled at me, so I don’t know how I’d react. I had a boss who lectured me every time we met about what my priorities should be (he didn’t approve of me going to law school at night). Resultant lyrics, I talked with another manager (asked him whether the feedback was because of a performance issue… It wasn’t) and got swapped to his team.
I find it highly inappropriate to yell in a professional environment. It’s not productive, and there are many better ways to express your displeasure at a situation.
I don’t know about professional environments, but at the State, if you yell, the reaction you get will be lip service to whatever it is you’re demanding, and a silent ‘fuck you’ where whatever you suggested is ignored and all future requests are slow-walked or circular filed.
Resultantly*
(fuck autocorrect)
I’ve never been in a situation where a professional relation yelled at me, so I don’t know how I’d react.
I have, and since it was a million dollar a year customer, I took it calmly, and continued dealing with the issue logically and unemotionally. He never apologized, but he’s been an absolute prince to me ever since.
I find that the hotter the emotional temperature in the room is, the colder and quieter I tend to get. I gather it can be kind of unnerving.
Oddly, when its a phone call, I am more likely to get hotter as the person on the other end gets hotter.
There’s a huge psychological advantage in not reacting in the way the aggressor expects. At the very least, you’re demonstrating his lack of effectiveness and his inability to set the agenda and trajectory of the interaction.
On a more fundamental basis, it undermines their own confidence in the argument they are promoting, because the only ‘rational’ conclusion is that you know something that he does not know.
As it happens, he was right, and I acknowledged that as part of my response to him. The way he communicated was unprofessional, especially since it was the first time he’d ever dealt with me, but here we are 6 years later, and he has been nothing but nice ever since. When my boss got fired and the customer was informed, his first question was, “I certainly hope OMWC is still there? We count on him.”
There’s a huge psychological advantage in not reacting in the way the aggressor expects.
There’s that. It also helps keep my team from getting sucked in to their drama.
Its a nice build-up to my favorite way to end the meeting:
“This is our final offer. Do you have any questions?” *silence. dead-eyed stare.*
The uncomfortable silence is a badly underused negotiating technique. Let it drag out until they start talking.
You’ll need to make sure anyone else from your team who is in the room needs to keep their yap shut.
“NONE OF YER GODDAM BEESWAX NOW STFU AND DRIVE THE CAR”
It’s why I always travel looking like Keanu Reeves at the end of John Wick.
one syllable answers, they quiet down
No.
Yep
I love talking to cab drivers. I knew this rich kid who wouldn’t talk to cab drivers other then to demand the driver change the radio station to his preferred channel. That’s just rude
How I feel about taxi drivers (and others) that want to chat:
https://youtu.be/G7Z1SKtUpr4
Dear Zardoz,
I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon, and an overly helpful employee basically accompanied me throughout my entire trip in the store. The experience wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but it would be nice to go pick up some basic staples without having to make small-talk for 30 minutes. How can I improve my resting bitch face in such a way that it scares any would-be-helpers away?
–Bothered Bitch in Billings
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS OVERLY CHATTED UP CHOSEN ONE. WHY BOTHER CONTORTING YOUR FACE… USE THE PROPER MASK.
ALSO AVAILABLE IN RED.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
Of course–it’s so simple! Many thanks to Zardoz!
All hail!
What if people stop trying to chat Riven up and decide instead bother her for life advice?
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN FOLLOW UP QUESTION ASKING ONE. TAKE A POSSE WITH YOU.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
At the risk of arousing the ire of Zardoz-
Over at the Atlantic, a story about Peter Thiel’s revenge murder of Gawker
Thompson: I am much more sympathetic to Gawker in this case. I’m more nervous about the power of people like Thiel to silence the press and scared of juries’ power to determine newsworthiness and hand out $100 million punishments for true stories. As Tom Scocca, a former Gawker writer, put it, this is now “a country where a billionaire can put a publication out of business.”
Holiday: One of the things that’s most brilliant about Tom’s piece is that it sets into motion a lost cause mythology about Gawker. It recasts all sorts of things that Gawker did as rudeness or mere insensitivity. But Gawker Media had articles with leaked photos of female celebrities’ boobs. Those were real people on the other side of that article. That was a real violation of privacy.
That line from Tom redefines their past and redefines what happened. Denton was not extorted into shutting down the website. Gawker lost in a court of law in front of a jury and judge, for which they had numerous opportunities to push the verdict in another direction. But they lost the case in court as much as Thiel won it. There are many scary things this class of billionaires can do with their money. But meeting in open court about the illegal publication of a sex tape is not one of the scariest.
What I find truly weird is this obsession with “weird billionaires silencing the media” which completely ignores the possibility that Nick Denton was an unprincipled vindictive cunt who got exactly what he deserved.
Nick Denton, Truth Teller is the narrative, because it holds the door open to legitimizing slander and libel.
Of the right sort of people.
Reason mostly ran with that narrative too, and gave short shrift to the invasion of privacy side. You can make a principled case against such things being illegal, but a) you do have to actually make the case and b) you need to apply it consistently.
How many articles did Reason write about CNN tracking down and attacking some random woman that once re-tweeted something supposedly written by a Russian bot (of which, still no prove has been provided to the public)?
They sure are quick to proclaim the President to be an enemy of the first amendment every time he attacks the press as the ‘enemy of the people’, but seem rather silent when the press acts as the ‘enemy of the people’
I do not know, I haven’t been following them lately. For all I know, they’ve got no problem with what CNN did. Whether it’s narrative uber alles, reporters are entitled to special privileges, or just no belief in privacy vis-a-vis non-government actors, I can’t say.
Just checked. I couldn’t find an article about that, but I may have missed it.
https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/20/33-off-attend-students-for-libertys-libe
I did see that if you register now you can get 33% off your tickets for the Students for (government approved) Liberty conference.
YAL > SFL
Well, one of the remaining quirks of my conversion to minarchism is that I do have to agonize over just how much free speech we should be allowed, and more importantly, how a society could reasonably come to an agreement on what should be controlled. Remember, I come from a place where free speech really can be judged and penalized as ‘hate speech’, and that’s been burned into the culture since forever.
From a principled point of view, I know that just like being “a little bit pregnant”, you can’t have “almost free speech”, and the pussified, Guardian-reading part of me wants to scream “can’t we all be nice to each other?”, but I know that there’s nobody that we can trust as an individual, or even worse, a group, who will satisfactorily reduce free speech without doing violence to liberty.
This is normally where I’d move into chin-rubbing meditation with the expectation that I’m wasting more of my life on pondering the insoluble.
Hyd yn oed y Cymry?
That reminds me of Welsh. I can’t stand being reminded of that Phlegmy language.
Well, it was Welsh, so llongyfarchiadau? I normally use it to tweak the nose of rhif chwech.
IS Whuyon so? Welsh?
Do you mean Rhywun? The word is Welsh, but the guy that posts here under that handle isn’t, he just likes the language.
Being ‘nice’ to the Welsh is to abstain from hanging them at the crossroads or making them emigrate to Argentina.
Mae Patagonia yn braf yr adeg hon o’r flwyddyn.
We gave you guys a prince all to yourself. What more do you want?
#6, you gave them Charles because you were embarassed by him.
We haven’t had a prince since Owain Glyndŵr in 1415. You sidled us with Charles as a joke.
Yeah, even in ’67 at the eistedfodd we knew he was a retard.
ugh, dd then d.
Q! Numero Seis is having trouble handling double d’s! We need reference materials, stat!
All I had to do was pronounce it in my head to know it was wrong. All the phlegm happening at the wrong time!
“Those DD’s. They’re … in the wrong place!”
I do have to agonize over just how much free speech we should be allowed,
All of it.
and more importantly, how a society could reasonably come to an agreement on what should be controlled.
None of it, at least, no prior restraint on speech unless you have agreed to it or perhaps if it is part of the punishment meted out by a court after due process is satisfied.
What happened to Gawker wasn’t “controlling” free speech. It was visiting on Gawker the consequences of Gawker’s decisions on how to exercise their free speech. Gawker could have won that lawsuit, I vaguely recall, if the Gawker execs hadn’t been such raging assholes on the stand.
Gawker gives me exactly zero concerns about the future of free speech. Indeed by seeing that free speech has consequences, it may have helped reduce the kind of stupid exercises of free speech that can lead to real prior restraint legislation.
Yeah – it’s reflexive and a tough habit to break.
Usually I handle this by reminding myself that a speaker shouldn’t escape the consequences of the words they speak and the things they do.
::Gen. Charles Napier chuckles mirthlessly from his tomb::.
Yup
but I know that there’s nobody that we can trust as an individual, or even worse, a group, who will satisfactorily reduce free speech without doing violence to liberty.
I agree with you. Which is why I wasn’t too bothered by the Gawker incident. Gawker wasn’t buried by some novel interpretation of law.
Thiel is just imposing some much-needed common sense press control.
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS NON-THREADING CHOSEN ONE.
…
40 MINUTES IN… YOU ARE OFF THE BRUTAL EXTERMINATING HOOK…. THIS TIME.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
There was a billionaire on the jury?
What Gawker did to Hulk Hogan is pretty much the same thing that got News of the World shut down. But one was reliably lefty, and the other was evil Rupert Murdoch.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/26/xi-jinping-china-presidential-limit-scrap-dictator-for-life
“Xi Jinping’s power grab condemned as step towards tyranny”- actually written by a real life human being about China.
Zardoz,
Since America is living under literally Hitler and literally everything is so, so terrible. How can the US become more like democratic China? Please be specific.
nobody needs to own an AR.
Well China may need them now, since they are slipping toward tyranny. I mean I can’t think of a freer country and totally not tyrannical than China.
nobody needs freedom.
I think you’re missing the whole point here. That shining beacon of freedom, China, is poised to become a tyranny!
at least they won’t have school shootings.. except for when students protest this move by Xi Jinping and the govt soldiers shoot them.
they won’t have *UNAPPROVED* school shootings.
this is what i’ve settled on after playing devil’s advocate in my own head lately. trying to anticipate the next argument from Thomas Friedman and leftists hellbent on gutting the 1A and 2A.
Well, Thomas Friedman’s argument will be: “Xi Should Not Upset the Utopia that is China”
As you intuit, Xi’s move is really more of a lateral move than a regression. They are changing the form of tyranny from oligarchy to dictatorship. In truth, both China and Russia appear to be trending towards the historical mean: embracing a monarchy encircled by an aristocracy. It would not surprise me if Xi’s next move would be to entitle himself “Son of Heaven”.
both China and Russia appear to be trending towards the historical mean: embracing a monarchy encircled by an aristocracy.
I think you can make a case that an attempt is being made here in the US to get something like that in place.
We’re not to the monarchy bit, yet, not really. But our Ruling Class is increasingly hereditary, inbred, and surrounded by a myriad of social barriers.
“We’re not to the monarchy bit, yet, not really”
Are you for reals? What is the presidency now but a King with restraints imposed by parliament? Electing a monarch makes it no better than a hereditary monarch, just ask Napoleon III
Yeah, I was thinking hereditary monarch. To me, the difference between a monarch and a dictator is mostly that one is hereditary and the other is not. As far as I am concerned, the Kim dynasty of hereditary monarchs is pretty well established in North Korea.
True, the ever expanding power of the executive is slowly drawing the Presidency ever closer to a Dictatorship, and an elected Dictator is no better for being elected. Rome retained the form of a Republic long after they had abolished the substance, and that’s a cautionary tale all republics should heed.
Holds up protest sign. “PR’s not AR’s!”
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN TYRANNY PONDERING ONE. ZARDOZ IS A BIG FAN OF THE FORCED POPULATION LIMITS AND THE GRAIN SLAVERY. HOWEVER, DENYING THE GIFT OF THE GUN IS RIGHT OUT. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
“ZARDOZ IS A BIG FAN OF THE FORCED POPULATION LIMITS AND THE GRAIN SLAVERY.”
Look at Zardoz spouting progressive talking points
If you don’t like Xi you are transphobic?
Dear Zardoz, on several occassions I have tried and failed to write a murder mystery – should I try again?
This is an easy lay-up:
“ZARDOZ SAYS TO WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. THEREFORE, YOU MUST CLEANSE, BRUTAL. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN”
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN WRITING ONE.
1. CLEANSE A BRUTAL UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
2. OBSERVE HOW THE BRUTAL AUTHORITIES ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE MATTER
3. WRITE A FICTIONAL VERSION
4. PROFIT
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
They solve cases mostly two ways. Someone calls and tells them who did it or they have DNA and run it through CODIS every 10 years it so.
A distant third is the person who did it acts really weird and guilty during interviews.
3a. ENTITLE IT “IF I DID IT” FOR MAXIMUM LULZ
Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends?
cue Mr. Rogers as a sniper.
Human-Bear DNA splicing is the obvious answer.
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/02/26/transgender-wrestler-booed-winning-another-girls-tournement/
Animal hardest hit.
Nope. Not donating any DNA to this. Nope nope nope.
Do you really want this guy lurking around?
birth certificate says female. the big problem was the PEDs (T and steroids) during this phase.
I don’t think they went wrong by banning it from the male contest. I think they went wrong by allowing it to participate in the female contest while using performance enhancing drugs.
And I think it is a massive asshole for participating in the female contest.
Xhe? Ze?
I don’t know the new rules.
He.
Born a chick, wants to be a dude. You could also go with “she” to be a shitlord. Calling a person “it” just seems wrong.
She will never be male, but has injected too many performance enhancing substances to compete fairly in her proper category. Result – disqualification from any competition.
Unless you want to create a “no standards division” here doping and any and all performance modifying tactics are permissable.
Unless you want to create a “no standards division” here doping and any and all performance modifying tactics are permissable.
Which I’m sure parents will be just clamoring to have their kids participate in. /sarc
There’s no easy answer here. A girl on testosterone is not a boy and a boy on estrogen is not a girl. For most purposes, that doesn’t matter, but for physically demanding activities like many sports it does.
I hate to say it because I know a transgender person from high school who has gone full bore and made the switch, and is now living very happily and by all accounts healthily as a man, but I do tend to think that it fits the definition of mental illness. At the very least, it’s a psychological abnormality to believe that you ought to be the sex opposite what you physically are. I think it’s mostly harmless and like a lot of weird mental quirks people have can be lived with in an otherwise totally normal and healthy life, but I think it’s ridiculous to think that it’s just another normal mode of human existence. Look, the guy who thought he was the Emperor of the United States or whatever was in all other regards an apparently normal, nice guy, but in at least one respect he was off his rocker.
Whatever the surgical alterations did for her state of mind, they did not make her a man.
I don’t doubt that some people have been helped surgically. Statistically, it does not usually help, and the rush to body modification before less irreversable treatments have been exhausted (the protocol doctors are supposed to be following) causes more harm than good to a great many people who do not need such a dtrastic approach.
Old Ebenezer thought he was Julius CaesarAnd so they put him in a homeWhere they gave him medicnal compoundAnd now he’s emporor of Rome
Well, it’s a delusion. Playing along with that delusion isn’t necessarily harmful, but it doesn’t make it less a delusion.
I know, I’m just being an ass. In person, I refer to people by “he” or “she” as they prefer.
My logic for “it” is this:
Can’t call you “he” because you aren’t in fact a male.
Can’t call you “she” because you don’t want me to.
I don’t use made-up collections of letters that advance social engineering schemes I don’t agree with, so “xe” etc. is right out.
That leaves “it”.
I use a singular “they”. Less abrasive, tends not to piss most people off, doesn’t cowtow to the post-truth left.
“Born as a what?” determines which competition you participate in.
Within a decade, the feminists will have to concede that yes, the hormones that are natural to men give men athletic advantages that unaltered women will never have. Hence, women and men are not ‘identical’.
I think I remember reading that xhe wants to compete with the boys, but the law is forcing her to compete with the girls.
What’s xhe supposed to do, tie one hand behind xher back? The whole thing is because theres a stupid state law on the books, when in any reasonable world the state commish of HS athletics goes “Oh you’re taking T injections? Yeah, you can wrestle with the boys then.”
Meh, it seems like an equally “reasonable” application of the law could be, you can’t be on the boys’ team because you are biologically not a boy and you can’t be on the girls’ team because you are taking the equivalent of a performance-enhancing drug. Alternately, we could just do away with gendered sports altogether, but the Title IX commission would have an absolute field day on that.
From my understanding, the law states “HS athletes must wrestle under their birth certificates gender”. That’s a very clear law, there’s not any wiggle room there.
SoCon virtue signaling, just like prog virtue signaling, has unintended consequences.
Alternately, we could just do away with gendered sports altogether, but the Title IX commission would have an absolute field day on that.
I’m not sure what they could do, really. One single division, so there’s no unequal funding of male or female programs. One standard equally applicable to all, so no overt discrimination.
There only argument would be “disparate impact” on the chicks, but that’s a hard to argument to sell in sports. But, even assuming they rule that one division with one standard is discriminatory, what’s their remedy?
Handicap the boys by letting the girls get a head start in races, lift lighter weights, etc.? Yeah, let’s just admit out loud the girls can’t compete heads-up with the boys.
Require segregation of the sexes? That’s a real good look for a civil rights agency whose DNA goes all the way back to ending segregation and rejecting “separate but equal”.
I’m not sure what they could do, really.
Every team must be 50/50 male/female and you can’t privilege the males just because they’re stronger athletes.
I didn’t say it had to be a workable or well intentioned solution.
What’s xhe supposed to do, tie one hand behind xher back?
Understand that in the real world you don’t always get what you want, and accept that his particular situation makes him ineligible to participate in high school sports, which, on balance, is not that big a deal?
“Oh you’re taking T injections? Yeah, you can wrestle with the boys then.”
Wouldn’t that open the door for the male wrestlers to start injecting testosterone, also?
Yes. The proper thing to do would be to DQ the wrestler for taking PEDs.
Yeah, I think you’re right. Personally, while I think the person in question could probably benefit from some therapy more than testosterone injections, if she wants to be thought of as a guy and do her best to look like one, I’m happy to play along. Unfortunately, the law as written means that he(she)(whatever) can’t wrestle on the boys team, so that means according to the rules she’s a girl pumping herself full of testosterone, which is against the rules.
Dear Zardoz, my girlfriend gave me a Valentines Day Card but it was covered in feces. Is she trying to tell me something?
http://nbc4i.com/2018/02/26/texas-woman-poops-in-her-pants-to-hide-drugs-during-arrest/
Points for creativity
In essence, she had the right idea.
Hint: No cops like someone soiled with feces or urine in the back of their car. If you can swing it, it’s worth considering pissing your pants if – for example, they pull a gun on you. Once you’re in your 40’s, if you’re sober, it doesn’t seem so plausible, but there’s a fair chance they won’t be strong-arming you into the back of their cruiser if you smell bad. This is only going to work if the’re pulling you in on suspicion of something. If they already found the bazooka (or the hollow points in NJ), they’ll get you to a lockup somehow.
Tell them you have an infectious disease.
In California, it’s called “code orange”.
I’M ALLERGIC TO PORK, YOU FUCIN’ PIGS!
“I got the AIDS and I just bit my tongue. I’m gonna start spitting on everyone who tries to touch me!”
That would constitute assault of a police officer. Probably not wise since he’s the one with the nigger-knocker and a Glock 19.
As somebody who has booked in several people covered in urine and feces I can confirm this is true. You are however, still going to jail, they’re just going to collect bookoo overtime hosing out the back seat.
In your forties?
I ain’t ready for Depends yet.
Unless it’s role playing, then….
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN SOILED CARD ONE. SHE IS TELLING YOU THAT THE REST OF YOUR PRESENT IS IN AN EVIDENCE LOCKER SOMEWHERE. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/26/supreme-court-public-employee-unions-424688
Oh shit, this may actually happen.
“Aside from Gorsuch’s silence, the most striking aspect of Monday’s argument was Justice Anthony Kennedy’s hostility to the unions’ position. He repeatedly tore into lawyers for the State of Illinois and for a major union as they defended the ‘fair share’ practice.”
As I commented on the discord…if you are providing a service people want, they will pay for it. If unions will be gutted by this decision, it shows that not that many people want what unions are serving up.
I suppose one way to square this circle would be to forbid unions funded with compulsory dues from spending in elections, for candidates, or on other political initiatives. Although that would contradict Citizens United.
Don’t read too much into it. Justices often give the side they are leaning toward a hard time in oral argument just to make sure they aren’t signing up to a weak case.
IIRC, this is a redo of a case that went 4-4 (Scalia died before the decision came down). So, unless Kennedy was just trying to keep things even so they could redo it with a full compliment, it would seem that he is not on the side of the unions.
Yes. Tell them politely that you’d rather not say, you dumbass.
It’s a problem I can easily avoid by pretending to be a new immigrant.
My European friends of a certain age, when asked a question that is none of anyone’s business, answer “I sell soap.” Only Americans would ever ask “what do you do?” I was certainly raised better than that in the old South.
Don. I want you to hit me. As. Hard. As. You. Can.
My answer may not have fit in well.
Also, I bet your answer is hilarious and I’m just too stiff to get it on a Monday :/
“I sell soap.”
That wasn’t a Fight Club reference? Judas Priest, I didn’t think I was that old…
Ah….never saw it. Knew I was missing sumpin
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN TALKING ONE. SILENCE! REMEMBER THE FIRST RULE! ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
HEY!! Remember the second rule!
Q: Oh, and what do you do?
A: Wet Work.
Robert Paulson at least knew how to handle his double D’s.
“Professional Assassin”
“That’s a real growth industry I bet.”
“I’m in the wholesale slaughter business.”
One of my favourite lines from the lamented single season of “Las Vegas.” 🙁
“What do you do?”
“Murders and executions”
…there is an idea of a Chipwooder, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real Chipwooder, only an entity, something illusory, and though Chipwooder can hide his cold gaze and you can shake his hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense your lifestyles are probably comparable: he simply is not there.
That sounds like a long-winded way of confessing to being a Tulpa sock.
I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don’t know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.
It sounds like an acute case of progressivitis
You like Huey Louis and the news? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in ’83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.
We should’ve gone to Dorsia.
Hey Paul? TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW, YOU FUCKING STUPID BASTARD!
Soap, the yardstick of civilization.
Toilet paper
Don’t forget, it needs to be soft toilet paper, hot water and good dental treatment.
viz
This one is for the large floating stone head. Are your brutals available for rent? We have a contract dispute with a group of Andorean Moles on a small moon circling Andromeda 8 (mammal designation) that I have been told to sub out. The atmosphere is mostly breathable, although they might need jackets due to the temperatures. Anyways can I get a quote for a full invasion followed by 3-4 ‘demonstration cleansings’?
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN REPTILIAN ONE. ZARDOZ WILL HAVE TO RUN THAT PAST THE TABERNACLE – ZARDOZ IS OPS AND LOGISTICS (GRAIN). FINANCE AND HR IS MORE OF THE TABERNACLE’S END OF THE OPERATION. ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
“I sell soap.”
I used to say, “I sell wholesale plumbing supplies” whenever I suspected I was about to get dragged into one of those, “You’re an IndyCar mechanic? That’s so cool. The drunkest I ever was in my life was in the infield at the Indy 500.” conversations. And then it was, “Gotta go.”
Wait, you’re an Indy Car mechanic?
That is so cool.
You misunderstood. He sells wholesale plumbing supplies.
“This plumbing looks suspiciously like exhaust pipe”
But does he lay the pipe is what the ladies want to know
“Well, the shortage of independant car manufacturers means I don’t get much work these days. So I sell car wash detergants.”
“Cocaine number 1! I use before drive all the time!”
“I’m a scientist.”
“Wow, do you know Neal deGrasse Tyson?”
“No, I don’t hang with morons.”
That usually ends the conversation.
Dude, that would be a starter for me. And I would buy you a drink.
I’ve seen you make similar comments before about Mr. Tyson, and the tone of your comments makes me think it would be funny if you wrote a click-bait article on this subject: “10 Reasons Neil deGrasse Tyson is a Moron. Number 3 will shock you.” Not trying to make any demands here, just saying that if you ever find yourself drunk, bored, and in front of a typewriter that you should consider it.
He is probably smarter than Bill Nye, so there’s that.
Or do as Elaine and pretend you’re deaf.
Too good to talk to the driver. At least George gave a security guard a rocking chair so he didn’t have to stand on his feet the whole day.
I like talking to Uber drivers. 9 out of 10 are foreign. It makes me feel like less of an asshole when I continue Uber’s original policy of NOT TIPPING. If your share of my ride isn’t big enough, that’s not my fault.
Scoping out some news on my phone, I see the butthurt children at Business Insider are all tied in knots because FedEx hasn’t jumped on the #BoycottNRA bandwagon. How dare they not fall in line?
There was also another article about how those crazy gun nuts are pissed off at the companies who are dropping their affiliate programs. “Whut the…? Activism is a two way street?”
i was going to cancel my Hertz reservation but couldn’t find another car rental company at the jetport in Portland, Maine that isn’t full throttle SJW over gunz right now. it’s Avis, Hertz, Enterprise, National. fuck them but shit i need a car.
How much driving do you need to do on your trip? If its just the usual airport – hotel – restaurant and back, it might be cheaper to Uber or Lyft.
lots. this is multi-day, multi-places.
I can’t imagine that anyone looked internally at the amount of business that affiliate program generated and said “yea, we could lose this pretty easily” before they made their decisions.
Also, if it is that important to you that these businesses dropped their programs, then do business with their competitors. Who cares?!?
There’s another factor regarding imperfect information.
A lot of NRA members don’t know there are discounts and don’t bother to ask. It’s not like AAA or AARP where they run around touting the widely accepted discount programs. So the companies would see the few transactions conducted under the discount and might wrongly assume that is the extent of the business NRA members do with them, and then get blindsided when it turns out they were doing full-price business and have been pissed off.
This is probably true. I would imagine there is a significant number of NRA members who simply are happy with the cool hat and don’t look any further into it.
Around here, nobody’s dumb enough to EVEN wear the hat.
Which reminds me. I have to put a hat on tonight.
I’ve only seen the hat in Prescott (about 75:25% cowboy:hippy) or at a gun range.
Only gonna see it here in the club, on the range officers (we have NRA hats specifically with the RO insignia on them)
A very few of the cars that get parked at the club have anything NRA-labeled on them, although many of the veterans have appropriate insignia. I used to have black and white ovals with ‘CZ’ and ‘BHP’ on them because the normies aren’t likely to get the joke.
I reconsidered once the euphoria of being a permit holder wore off.
Other than an WW2 era Air Force Insignia, I try to avoid stickers. Though I did see a G63 some time back with an HK sticker. I’m guessing he likes everything overbuilt, bulky and German.
Maybe he thinks he sucks and HK hates him.
He was driving one of these. I doubt he thinks he sucks.
Absolutely. Either way people who feel so inclined should vote with their dollars and let the market shake the rest out.
I’ve been a Life Member for close to 20 years, and an annual member for many years prior to that. As for their discounts, I almost never even think/thought about them. I generally get better corporate and status discounts from car rental and hotel chains, and as for United, they don’t give any discounts for much of anything – the NRA one they ballyhooed was only for members going to/from the national meeting. I’m still more or less stuck with United anyway, as Denver is a major hub and if I don’t fly, I don’t earn a living.
But I wear the Life Member cap. A lot. If someone doesn’t like it, they are welcome to bend on down and kiss my hairy white middle-aged ass.
As usual of late I cant keep up. I am just now looking things over. I popped in earlier for a few minutes and now again.
Looking over this….yeah whatever. Ten stars for including a photo of young Charlotte Rampling. I really didn’t notice anything else. Why would I? Charlotte Rampling.
Speaking of racing…. Yesterday, since there was nothing better on, I watched that seemingly interminable race in Atlanta. There were multiple wheel gun failures, which I found amusing.
Apparently, NASCAR, in their infinite wisdom, decided to mandate a “spec” impact wrench for use in pit stops, as a cost saving effort, because the teams were devoting lots of time and money to making sure their wheel guns spun the wheel nuts on and off really fast every fucking time. This reminds me of something I thought of, ‘way back when; I’m not a gamer, but if you’re going to write a motor racing game, it should have some sort of random fuckup generator in it. You know, an engine/gearbox failure, cut tire, debris strike, or maybe even a pit stop where one of the wheel guns takes a shit (this has, unfortunately, happened to me).
Maybe the new “spec” wheel guns are just a way to introduce a little randomized “drama” to the show.
There used to be a board game back in the 60’s called “Formula 1” that had an element of that in it.
Unlike NASCAR, the steering wheel also had to have the ability to steer the car to the right.
Once autonomous driving cars become standard, I suppose “stock” car racing will follow suit.
Days of Thunder for the NES
I think what they were trying to do with the impact wrench and reducing the size of the “over the wall” pit crews was level the playing field between the big, wealthy teams and the smaller teams. Which I am fine with. I’d like to see some more underdogs win races. Its pretty clear that in racing the size of the wallet matters, a lot. Which makes sense – its a highly capital intensive sport.
As far as those “NRA affiliate” discount programs go, I doubt more people than you could count on your fingers will say, “Fuck it, I’m going to cancel my membership if I can’t get 10% off on a rental car (or whatever) anymore.”
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/968204515315994626
I shrugged when I saw this.
Person: How can you support the government forcing businesses to associate with someone they don’t want to
Me: Bake the cake
Person: Yeah, but that’s different, because reasons
What they want makes sense, what you point out should be the way things are, is repressive..
OT, from the “How fucking cheeky” department
Just got a phone call from the Police Union Benevolent Association.
*click* ::marks as phone spam::
I should have told him that at least one cop got home safe last week that maybe shouldn’t have.
I wonder if you could sue them for false advertising for that?
I have to RO at the range in 3 hours’ time. Easily 25% of the members are cop-fellators, and I have to be sober for the evening.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/26/supreme-court-public-employee-unions-424688
I posted this already, but there is way too much good stuff in this oral argument to pass up.
From one exchange:
“Alito asked about a scenario where a union’s request for a 5 percent raise could “push a city to the brink of bankruptcy.”
“That particular hypothetical, in fact, is an unfair smearing of the collective bargaining process,” Frederick snapped back in an unusually caustic retort.”
Frederick works for the Illinois Attorney General’s office. Alito’s hypothetical LITERALLY JUST HAPPENED WITH CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. The teacher’s union asked for a 7% raise and CPS said they couldn’t afford it, so the teachers went on strike. CPS eventually relented and had to be bailed out by the State. CPS is still rated as below investment grade (junk bonds), due to its financial imbalance.
Also:
“One lighter moment came as Roberts asked Frederick whether demands for higher wages for employees must have some impact on state or local coffers.
“Of course, most public servants are underpaid, I will stipulate to that before this body,” Frederick said, drawing some laughter from the audience and a wry smile from Roberts.”
You can’t make this shit up, because it is so bat shit stupid
Stupid? No. Nakedly, blatantly, aggressively self-serving? Yes.
Also, stupid.
Of course, i looked this up because i was interested in the details.
every single story says (paraphrase) “State demands union takes 7% pay-cut”
seriously. Its like the news media work for the union-PR department
I shit you not they came up with this, because CPS asked teachers to contribute toward their own pensions (they currently contribute a token amount). CPS, at the same time, actually asked teachers to contribute toward their healthcare costs (they currently pay $0 for their healthcare out of their pay checks), but eventually dropped the demand and instead asked teachers to just contribute toward their pension.
The more stills from Zardoz I see, the more. I want to see the film.
Hail ZARDOZ
It is definitely worth seeing at least once.
In my experience, however, it’s probably different than the version you have in your head. Not saying ‘worse’ but definitely different.
Having not seen it, but knowing it’s one of those 70s sci-fi artsy films, let me guess the difference: the effects look worse in motion, the pacing is slow, the dialogue is leaden, and the plot is inscrutable. How’d I do?
Truly, you are a chosen one!
Huzzah!
Just gave the NRA my membership fee.
I’m going to use the bag at the gym.
Playing the white privileged person living south of the Mason-Dixon card, eh?
OT: more religious bigotry from Trashy
I find American Buddhists to be the most perplexingly confused people I’ve ever met. I can’t tell whether they are just mentally incompatible with western culture, or whether it’s a feature of Buddhism. I’ve never really talked to an Asian Buddhist so I don’t know whether they’re as clueless and valueless as the American one come off.
My wife is Asian Buddhist and she’s a Republican so yeah.
I can’t remember which Glib recommended it, but I just got Solzhenitsyn’s WARNING TO THE WEST.
Thanks. It’s great.
I’m off to a local bar’s Employee Party. And no, I don’t work at a bar. Read whatever you like into the fact that I have been invited. (Winking emoji)
I find American Buddhists to be the most perplexingly confused people I’ve ever met.
There is a Tibetan style temple out here. Based on an extremely small sample size, I find the members to be surprisingly egocentric and manipulative. Not exactly traits I associate with Buddhism.
Yeah, but on their deathbeds, they will recieve total consciousness. So they’ve got that going for them.
So, they believe the central tenet of Buddhism is “Every man for himself.”?
Otto was right!